


The Stowaway

by idinathoreau



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 1925, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Special, Dancing, F/F, Historical, Kinda, Original Female Character - Freeform, Pre-Relationship, Songfic, Thirteen x Yaz, because we dont get one this year, thasmin, the doctor is very gay for yaz, the doctor x yasmin khan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 09:20:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17139158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idinathoreau/pseuds/idinathoreau
Summary: Spending Christmas Day at sea as a Muslim is not very festive. But for Midshipwoman Khan, the discovery of a strange stowaway brings a little bit of light and adventure back to the journey.OrThe Doctor gets lost on her way to see Yaz on Christmas Day and meets a woman at sea in 1925.





	The Stowaway

**Author's Note:**

> Shamelessly ripped off from the song _The Stowaway_ from the Doctor Who Series 3 soundtrack.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeCsg6TWQkc

Midshipwoman Yamina Khan hated that she was the only woman on board the HMS _Aspiration_.

She kicked aside an empty water barrel and descended further into the bowels of the hold. With one hand on a broom and the other on the rope railing, there was no appendage available to cover her nose from the stench. Thankfully, she’d had the foresight to tie a kerchief around her mouth and nose but it still wasn’t enough. So here she was, beating out rats alone and forced to inhale the sour smell of several months at sea.

Still, she supposed, there were worse places to be than the middle of the Mediterranean in December. 

Yamina began to beat at the stacked foods and behind the barrels of gunpowder, all the rats’ favorite hiding spots. Her father had been the first Muslim captain in the Royal British Navy, quite an accomplishment in 1910. But when he’d had no sons to follow in his footsteps, he’d made the seemingly insane choice of enrolling his daughters in the Royal Naval Academy. Now, Yamina was the only Khan remaining, after her two younger sisters had quit during the harrowing training. But she’d worked her way onto a ship and as the only woman and the darkest of the midshipmen, she was often singled out for unsavory tasks. 

Thankfully, on Christmas, the men tended to leave her alone, preferring each other’s drunken company to celebrate the holiday. But, seeing as none of them wanted to do any work, it left her flailing around in the dark, trying to beat out rats from their food supply. 

After some time without encountering anything, Yamina pulled herself back up the rope and onto the gently rolling deck. Now it was on to scrubbing the deck…

But as she rounded the stern, an unfamiliar sight stopped her dead in her tracks. 

It was a woman. Another actual woman aboard their ship. Hundreds of miles and days of travel from the nearest port. It appeared they had a stowaway.

She was a small white woman dressed in an absolutely ridiculous assemblage of colors and a long cream-colored coat. Her blonde hair was splayed all across her face and she appeared to be having trouble getting it back under control. She leaned far over the ship’s railing, as if searching the waves below for something. She didn’t look at all like some of the stowaways they’d caught before. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t dangerous.

Hefting the broom over one shoulder and reaching for her mouth covering, Yamina advanced on her, cutting off the most obvious escape route. “Oi! You! Where did you come from?” She demanded, using the same voice she would have if her sisters were misbehaving.

The stranger barely flinched. She turned around, her face relaxing from a strange scrunch into a genuine smile. “Hello there! Don’t mind me, just got a little off-course…”

Yamina pulled down her kerchief and the stranger paused, regarding Yamina like she’d seen a ghost. Yamina didn’t know what it was, perhaps it was the smile, or the confidence with which the stowaway handled herself (or maybe just the simple fact that she was another woman) but that smile immediately put her off her aggression. 

“What’s your name?” The stranger asked, peering at Yamina in such a way that the young woman felt she was trying to convince herself that she knew her. 

“Midshipwoman Yamina Khan.” Yamina answered. 

The stranger nodded. “Right. Nice to meet you Midshipwoman Khan.”

Yamina regarded her again. The woman wasn’t aggressive; in fact, she wasn’t even defensive. There was no reason to apprehend her. After all, wasn’t this the day when all good Christians said “good will towards all?”. 

So Yamina decided to give the stranger a chance. “You shouldn’t be here!” She began, placing her broom down. “We’re days away from port, which means you’re a stowaway.”

The woman shrugged apologetically, tucking her hands deep into her coat pockets. “Yes I know, but it’s all quite a funny story with a possibly happy ending.”

“How can an ending be possibly happy?”

The woman winked at her, making Yamina’s heart flutter. “I’m still living it.”

“Well, I should throw you overboard.” 

The stranger looked at her intently. “But you’re not going to.” She stated. 

The sailor shifted slightly. “I don’t know yet.” Yamina admitted. But she was intrigued.“So what’s your tale?” She asked. 

The stranger sighed, the entire action making her body sag. Taking a hand from her pocket, she held it out towards the sailor.

“Come here…let’s dance.” 

That gentle smile was back and Yamina found herself instantly trusting this strange woman and her strange request. She stepped forward, sliding into position immediately from years at preparatory school. The stranger for her part, took the lead position as if she’d been doing it her whole life. There was no music so they didn’t quite start dancing but the stranger led her through several steps of a slow foxtrot. They gently swayed with the rocking ship.

“I’m here by accident.” The stranger admitted, her hand quite warm on Yamina’s waist. “I lost my ship and I’ve been trying to track it down for some time. So yes, I did stowaway on your ship.” She paused, as if focusing on the steps for several seconds. But Yamina suspected she was choosing her next words with care. “There’s another person waiting for me, back home. She’s probably run out of patience with me by now, thinking I’m not going to make it for Christmas.” 

Normally Yamina would have commented on the fact that today was Christmas and they were days away from any civilization but something in the woman’s voice made her stop and just listen.

“So now I’m just trying to get back…anyway I can. Begging, borrowing, heck, I’ll even steal something at this point.” The woman’s voice shook and she pulled Yamina just a hair closer. “I just want to dance with her…” The woman closed her eyes, swaying gently and completely lost in the fantasy she spoke of.

Yamina knew that the stranger was imagining she was dancing with this other woman she spoke of, with Yamina providing a stand-in. Homesickness and a longing for her sisters’ company overwhelmed her and she felt a single sympathetic tear fall from her eye.

They swayed silently for several seconds, Yamina trying very hard not to cry further at the obvious emotional yearning the stranger was projecting. She didn’t know if the woman spoke of a friend or a family member but she had a suspicion that it was a lover the woman longed for.

“I think she’ll forgive you…” Yamina breathed, “even if you’re late.”

The woman smiled, her eyes finally fluttering open. “I know…that’s why I love her.”

A shout from the crow’s nest startled them and the woman’s hand slipped from Yamina’s. They both dashed to the railing, peering out at the water. 

Bobbing up and down in the gentle swells was a wooden blue box. A soft blue light was pulsing from the top.

Instantly, the stranger’s demeanor skyrocketed from resignation to joy. “There! There it is! That’s my ship!!” The stranger laughed uproariously, throwing her whole head back. “Sheffield, here I come!”

She turned back to Yamina, smiling in that way that had made the young woman instantly trust her. “Thank you…for everything. I wont forget this kindness.”  
Yamina nodded, her heart swelling at the thought that she’d helped by dancing with this woman. “I don’t understand how you’d rather be on that box than this ship but I’m happy to have helped.”

The stranger just nodded, with a strange little twinkle in her eyes. “Goodbye Midshipwoman Khan! And happy Christmas!” 

With that declaration, the stranger flung herself off of the ship, diving surprisingly gracefully into the ocean. 

Yamina watched incredulously as the blonde head swam out towards the box, triumphantly hauling herself onto it and waving grandly at the ship. 

She found herself waving back, remembering the deep sadness with which the woman had danced with her and suddenly longing for the embrace of her family back home in Devon. Blinking back tears, she turned away from the bobbing box as it drifted out of sight behind a swell.

“Good luck stranger…I hope you find your love next Christmas.”

 

***

 

Christmas in Sheffield was a loud, raucous affair. Yaz had never seen the appeal, especially since she’d joined the force and began working on Christmas Day for the bonus. It was easily the toughest day of the year to be on duty, between family disputes and drunken antics of revelers. By the time the end of her shift rolled around, she’d dealt with no fewer than ten separate incidences. 

Yaz changed in the locker room, nodding gratefully at her co-workers as they wished her a happy Christmas, no longer bothering to correct them. Tucking herself into her over-sized jacket and wrapping her thickest scarf around her face, she stepped out into the growing twilight. 

Parties were still going on, splitting the frozen air with bursts of song and loud drunken cries. But Yaz just put her head down and headed for home.

Ryan and Graham had invited her over to share their Christmas dinner but she had declined. She had to get home.

It wasn’t like the Doctor was coming anyway. 

Yaz blew on her fingers, hating that she’d somehow forgotten her gloves. She wasn’t really upset that the Doctor hadn’t shown up. She was an alien, she probably didn’t even know about Christmas. It was just that none of them had seen her for almost a month and Yaz was starting to fear that she wasn’t ever going to come back. 

Yaz paused for a moment, staring up at the sky like the TARDIS was going to fly by at any instant. She sighed heavily, watching her breath drift away in the cold air. Soft snowflakes were beginning to drift down.

_It just…it would be so nice to see her…especially tonight. Just to know that she’s alright and she hasn’t forgotten us._

Putting her head down, Yaz kept walking.

She was just over a block from her flat, wincing at the loud sounds of firecrackers and Christmas music splitting the quiet winter air, when a familiar sound filled the night, catching Yaz’s falling heart and yanking it up into her throat. That wheezing…groaning sound…

Yaz began to run. She rounded the corner at top speed, her scarf unwinding from her exertions. 

Down the street, the TARDIS was perched on the corner, along with a rapidly freezing puddle of water. The Time Lord in question was leaning against the box, staring at Yaz as she approached. 

“Hey Yaz…” the Doctor greeted her, standing up slightly as Yaz ran up to her. Her cheeks were flushed.

Yaz stopped just short of the puddle, afraid she’d skid across it and fall ungracefully in front of the woman. “Doctor…” She looked the woman up and down, her forehead wrinkling in confusion. “Why are you wet?”

The Doctor shrugged in that way of hers, water dripping from her hair at the motion. “Had to swim to the TARDIS…long story.” The woman looked like she was shivering; Yaz could see icicles forming on the ends of her jacket. But the Doctor didn’t seem to notice or care. Her face softened as she looked at Yaz. “I’m just glad I made it back.”

Yaz could have asked her where she had been, or why she’d been gone so long. But looking at the soaking wet, despondent woman, all she could bring herself to ask was. “Are you…okay?”

The Doctor offered her an apologetic smile. “Sorry I missed Christmas…” She murmured, looking like a kicked puppy.

Yaz let out a single breathless chuckle. “Doctor…you know my family doesn’t celebrate Christmas right?”

“Yes, but…” The Doctor shrugged. “…it’s just such a lovely time of year and I wanted to…I wanted to at least see you.”

There was a moment of uneasy silence at the confession. 

Yaz swallowed hard, and by some massive effort, found her voice again. “Doctor…do you want to come over for Christmas with my family?”

The woman looked up, startled. “I thought you didn’t celebrate it?”

Yaz smiled at her in reassurance. “We don’t celebrate it but Mum still likes to make a big meal and spend time together as a family. Sonia always has some friends over. You are welcome to join us.”

Something unreadable but utterly heartbreaking crossed the Doctor’s face. “…th…thank you Yaz.” She wiped her face, but whether to brush away tears or just frozen water, Yaz couldn’t tell. “But first…” the Time Lord seemed hesitant again.

“Yes Doctor?” Yaz prompted, her heart unexpectedly skipping. 

The Time Lord ducked her head to catch Yaz’s eyes. “Would you…dance with me?”

Yaz stepped forward, and almost immediately felt her feet sliding out from under her. Before she could tumble to the ground, the Doctor’s arms were around her, hauling her back upright. 

They both laughed and with confident, even steps, the Doctor led Yaz away from the dangerous ice sheet and onto the sidewalk. Her hand slid around Yaz’s waist, pulling her close and Yaz found her arms around the Doctor’s neck, playing with her frozen hair. They swayed together. 

It was so utterly ridiculous; the two of them dancing in the middle of the loud street on Christmas night, the Doctor soaking wet and Yaz exhausted from a day of police duty. But that was what made it perfect. 

Yaz laid her head against the woman’s wet shoulder and soaked in the festivity of the moment. 

They were late for that dinner. But neither of them seemed to mind.

 

FIN

**Author's Note:**

> I’m basing my assumption on the Khan family’s Christmas celebrations on their on-screen connections to their Muslim heritage and a brief internet search on how Muslims recognize the holiday. I figured they wouldn’t celebrate it directly but would still acknowledge the day because they live in a very Christian country. If anyone with more knowledge on this topic than I wishes to give me some pointers, I’d be much obliged! 
> 
> No matter what you celebrate, I hope you have a happy and safe end of the year and that this fic tides you over until the New Year’s Special!


End file.
